there's no such thing as adventure, there's no such thing as romance, there is only trouble and desire

Monday, May 31, 2004

May 28 (Friday): Last day at college which means last day in London and I am gutted as this means back to the same old same old as of next week. I love London, it excites me beyond belief, I'm just cheating myself by not looking into getting a job here. And of course its the last day of class with Phoebe, of well all good things come to an end (and tonight is the last episode of Friends). I get on the train swift as usual and today is the best of the bunch, in the early hours it is already glowing summer like sun. And this is coupled with Moyles on-form on the radio to the point his track of the day is Slide Away by Oasis which fits perfectly on this day in this best of all worlds. As I enter the lift at Shepherd's Bush BPP and look at my reflection in the mirror I am actually smiling, one that is not forced nor phony, this is the real deal. Today I am on form, in a too laidback way (as usual). First thing I text Azmei asking her to please remember to bank my cheque. Fuck all response, oh well. After a fairly succesful morning study wise me and the Phoebe go get lunch from McDonalds. I get dust in my throat and cough all the way, exactly like something out of a Woody Allen, I am a disgrace. Whatever. I also foist my email address and phone number on her and she reciprocates but it'll probably turn out to be fake, I am boxing way above my weight with this one. She sits anxious all day making paper stars and she gives them to me as lucky stars to get me through the exams (five in all). Nice touch, she sits humming most of the afternoon.

We end slightly early and I waste no time in saying bye to Phoebe and I make a b-line for Oxford Street. Today everything looks good. The sun is out, I look good for passing my exam and I got a number (hey, it might even be real!). At Tottenham Court Road I head straight for Forbidden Planet on New Oxford Street. Wha' happened? Where'd it go? Fuck it, undaunted I hurdle past bums and tourists and go to Sportspages. Like a div I am on the look out for US sports trading cards. Why? I don't know. I then accidently find Fopp Records. I step inside and its magic. Kev used to work here and I never visited him: what an idiot I was. Sonic Youth back catalogue for a fiver. Have some of that. And the music was absorbing, so 2004, so hip, so what I want as my personal soundtrack. Upstairs in the shop the view towards Covent Garden stuns, this truly is the greatest place on Earth (Central London I mean). At the desk I ask what the music is and it turns out to be Sixtoo on Ninja Tune (makes sense). I buy it immediately. Funny thing though, at home in da crib, it doesn't sound anywhere near as good, it just sounds like Tortoise to me. I find Forbidden Planet and it has moved and it has gone sour. I wander/stagger around Covent Garden, around the beautiful people. For once I am calm enough to window shop and enjoy all the art on offer, wishing I only had had time to cultivate an art of me own (see Nothing Lasts Forever for the movie version of my struggle). On the way back, past the Astoria, I head to the Virgin and waste more money on sale DVDs I probably won't watch for months. On their big screen they show Lord Of The Rings 3 and it is booming, just like in a cinema. For some reason I felt like sharing my experience with somebody. I text Azmei and obviously she doesn't answer (texting seems passe in some quarters). I ride the late train home and again I recognise commuters and the sit opposite to the funniest looking woman in history, a history with a small screwed up face and a permanent look of disdain and facial language screaming "I'm going to get you". She should be the villan in her own cartoon series.

By the time I get home I am elated and the happiest with my state of affairs I have been for a long time (lots of factors why). I decide I want chips, as bad as they are for me. Driving there I find I am following Lindsey in my car. Neither of us see eachother (yeah right, although on her part this is probably true). I get chips and fly home for the last Friends and the first Big Brother of the year. I really wish I had more. Last Friends is so so, cheesy ending not done as well as landmark episodes. Big Brother 5 though is hyped to the max but then out come some really interesting (ie fucking nasty it seems) individuals. The pond life will save it. Still, none will be as good as if I had got on there two years ago. Oh well, I pass out.